The Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences (CSSS) Awards 2024-2025 Blalock Fellowship to Three Outstanding PhD students
The Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences (CSSS) is proud to present three incoming University of Washington PhD students who were awarded the 2024 Blalock Fellowship. The new fellows will be introduced at the opening CSSS seminar on October 2nd.
Since 2001, the Blalock Fellowship has been awarded to over 50 incoming PhD candidates from a diverse range of departments at UW, including Anthropology, Geography, Nursing, Political Science, Public Policy & Governance, Sociology, Social Work, Statistics, and Urban Design & Planning. Blalock Fellows are selected based on their passion for cutting-edge quantitative research in their respective fields within the CSSS tracks and their potential for exceptional teaching careers in quantitative social sciences.
Austin Sibu is entering the Department of Statistics PhD Program with research interests in the fields of causal inference and time series analysis. He hopes to become a researcher who develops statistical methodologies that can be applied to the social sciences. Austin gained research experience from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute and the The Bush School of Government and Public Service. He holds a M.S. and B.S. in Statistics from Texas A&M University with minors in Mathematics and Economics.
Changlong Ling is entering the Department of Urban Design and Planning PhD Program to pursue a career in academic research focused on making cities and transportation more sustainable. Her research interest include topics such as land use and transportation, urban economics, and urban informatics. Changlong has worked as a research assistant, as well as leading a data-augmented transportation planning project in Heyuan City to improve road traffic safety. Changlong holds a M.S. in Urban and Regional Planning from Peking University in Beijing, China as well as a B.A. in Economics and B.E. in Urban and Rural Planning from Wuhan University in Wuhan, China.
Wenting Peng is entering the School of Nursing PhD Program with research interests related to gerontology and the associations of common health-related issues among older adults. Two of the questions that inform her research are 1) among community-dwelling older adults, what the potential modifiable risk factors for cognitive frailty are, and 2) how to develop a cost-effective intervention to reduce the risks of cognitive frailty. Wenting holds a M.M.S and B.S in Nursing from Xiangya School of Nursing at Central South University in Changsha, China.
"We are very excited to welcome Austin, Changlong, and Wenting as our newest Blalock Fellows. I look forward to welcoming them to CSSS seminars and other activities, as well as hearing about their accomplishments in graduate school and beyond," says CSSS Director Elena Erosheva.
